Preface

This is the third in a series of NASA Eclipse Bulletins containing detailed
predictions, maps and meteorological data for future central solar eclipses of
interest. Published as part of NASA's Reference Publication (RP) series, the
bulletins are prepared in cooperation with the Working Group on Eclipses of the
International Astronomical Union and are provided as a public service to both
the professional and lay communities, including educators and the media. In
order to allow a reasonable lead time for planning purposes, subsequent
bulletins will be published 24 months or more before each event. A tentative
schedule for future eclipse bulletins and projected publication dates appears
at the end of the Preface.

Response to the first two eclipse bulletins was overwhelming. When the January
1994 issue of Sky and Telescope announced their availability, as many as
160 requests per week were received for them. Since requests for the May
bulletin outnumbered the November bulletin by four to one, an additional 600
copies of RP1301 were reprinted in late January. Nevertheless, the demand
quickly exceeded the supply for both bulletins and funding sources did not
permit more printings to fill all requests. It also became clear that the
requests were consuming a great deal of time, secretarial work and postage. To
conserve resources and to make responses faster and more efficient, the
proceedure for requesting eclipse bulletins has been modified as follows.

Single copies of the bulletins are available at no cost and may be ordered by
sending a 9 x 12 inch SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) with sufficient
postage (11 oz. or 310 g.). Use stamps only; cash or checks cannot be
accepted. Requests within the U. S. may use the Postal Service's Priority Mail
for $2.90. Please print either the NASA RP number or the eclipse date (year
& month) of the bulletin ordered in the lower left corner of the SASE.
Requests from outside the U.S. and Canada may use international postal coupons
sufficient to cover postage. Exceptions to the postage requirements will be
made for international requests where political or economic restraints prevent
the transfer of funds to other countries. Finally, all requests should be
accompanied by a copy of the request form on page 73. Bulletin requests may be
made to either of the authors. Comments, suggestions, criticisms and
corrections are solicited to improve the content and layout in subsequent
editions of this publication series, and may be sent to Espenak.

Since we are now entering the age of the 'Information Highway', it seems
fitting that the eclipse bulletins should be served electronically. Thanks to
the initiative and expertise of Dr. Joe Gurman (GSFC/Solar Physics Branch), the
first three eclipse bulletins are all available over the Internet. Formats
include a BinHex-encoded version of the original MS Word file + PICT + GIF
(scanned GNC maps), as well as a hypertext version. They can be read or
downloaded via the World-Wide Web server with a mosaic client from the SDAC
(Solar Data Analysis Center) home page:
http://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/sdac.html. Most of the files are also
available via anonymous ftp. In addition, path data for all central eclipses
through the year 2000 are available via
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpubs/predictions/eclipse-paths.html. For
more details, please see the section on Eclipse Data on the Internet.
Naturally, all future eclipse bulletins will also be available via Internet.

RP 1344 marks a milestone as the first eclipse bulletin to be generated
entirely on a Macintosh computer (excluding the GNC maps). As such, it
represents the culmination of a two year project to migrate a great deal of
eclipse prediction and mapping software from mainframe (DEC VAX 11/785) to
personal computer (Macintosh IIfx) and from one programming language (FORTRAN
IV) to another (THINK Pascal). This bulletin is also the first to be printed
on a 600 dpi laser printer. The contrast, resolution and readability is a
noticeable improvement. The authors have also adopted the international
convention of presenting date and time in descending order (i.e. year,
month, day, hour, minute, second). Word processing and page layout for the
publication were done using Microsoft Word v5.1. Figure annotation was done
with Claris MacDraw Pro 1.5. Meteorological diagrams were prepared using
Windows Draw 3.0 and converted to Macintosh compatible files.

We would like to acknowledge the valued contrbutions of a number of
individuals that were essential to the success of this publication. The format
and content of the NASA eclipse bulletins has drawn heavily upon over 40 years
of eclipse Circulars published by the U. S. Naval Observatory. We owe a
debt of gratitude to past and present staff of that institution who have
performed this service for so many years. In particular, we would like to
recognize the work of Julena S. Duncombe, Alan D. Fiala, Marie R. Lukac, John
A. Bangert and William T. Harris. The many publications and algorithms of Dr.
Jean Meeus have served to inspire a life-long interest in eclipse prediction.
We thank Francis Reddy, who helped develop the data base of geographic
coordinates for major cities used in the local circumstances predictions. Dr.
Wayne Warren graciously provided a draft copy of the IOTA Observer's
Manual for use in describing contact timings near the path limits. Dr. Jay
M. Pasachoff kindly reviewed the manuscript and offered a number of valuable
suggestions. The availability of the eclipse bulletins via the Internet is due
entirely to the efforts of Dr. Joseph B. Gurman. The support of Environment
Canada is acknowledged in the acquisition and arrangement of the weather data.
Finally, the authors thank Goddard's Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics
for several minutes of CPU time on the LEPVX2 computer. The time was used for
verifying predictions generated with the Macintosh.

Permission is freely granted to reproduce any portion of this Reference
Publication, including data, figures, maps, tables and text (except for
material noted as having been published elsewhere, or by persons other than the
authors). All uses and/or publication of this material should be accompanied
by an appropriate acknowledgment of the source (e.g. - "Reprinted from Total
Solar Eclipse of 1995 October 24, Espenak and Anderson, 1994"). The names
and spellings of countries, cities and other geopolitical regions are not
authoritative, nor do they imply any official recognition in status.
Corrections to names, geographic coordinates and elevations are actively
solicited in order to update the data base for future eclipses. All
calculations, diagrams and opinions presented in this publication are those of
the authors and they assume full responsibility for their accuracy.